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KSUN (1400 AM) is a Spanish-language radio station broadcasting out of Phoenix, Arizona, and serving the Phoenix metropolitan area. It is locally owned by the Marques brothers and operates a regional Mexican music format under the branding "La Mejor". The station simulcasts on translator at K293CO 106.5 FM. The station is also the Spanish-language play-by-play home of Phoenix Suns basketball games and Phoenix Rising FC soccer matches.
| Broadcast area | Phoenix metropolitan area |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1400 kHz |
| Branding | La Mejor 106.5 FM / 1400 AM |
| Programming | |
| Format | Regional Mexican |
| Affiliations | MVS Radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | August 28, 1954 |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | Valley of the Sun (a common nickname for the Phoenix area) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 21430 |
| Class | C |
| Power | 1,000 watts unlimited |
Transmitter coordinates | 33°23′23″N 111°59′52″W |
| Translator(s) | 106.5 K293CO (Phoenix) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen (requires RealPlayer or Winamp) |
| Website | www |
The station signed on August 28, 1954, as KONI, the ninth radio station in Phoenix;[2] originally KBLR, the station's callsign changed by the time it signed on. KONI became KXIV in 1961. Until 1982, KXIV was programmed with a middle of the road (MOR) music format. The station was co-owned by Ira Lavin and actor Dick Van Dyke (an Arizona resident).[3][4] Disc jockeys included George Scott, Jack Dey, Jim Hutton, Paul B. Mundt, and Jim Spero (who also served as program director).[5]
Van Dyke and Lavin sold KXIV in 1982 to local real estate developer Michael Levin, who relaunched the station with a news/talk format as KSUN, featuring personalities from ABC's TalkRadio Network, NBC's Talknet and audio from CNN2.[6] The call letters had been sold to Levin by the previous KSUN in Bisbee, at the time silent and in receivership.[7] Hourly discount auctions through a segment called "BarterBank" were also heavily advertised. Levin's tenure running KSUN was marred by suspicious vandalism[8] and layoffs.[9] The station fell into bankruptcy and went silent on Memorial Day weekend 1983.[10]
CAZ Broadcasting bought KSUN out of bankruptcy in 1984,[10] and brought the station back the next year as an affiliate of the original Radio AAHS, a radio service developed for children, with adult-oriented music at night.[11] By 1986, KSUN was running jazz full-time with minor league baseball play-by-play of the Phoenix Firebirds, having lost Radio AAHS when Children's Radio Network opted to cease distributing it outside of its owned-and-operated stations.[12] After an abortive attempt to sell the station to TransCom, owners of KLZI 99.9 FM,[13] and going silent again at the end of summer, Fiesta Radio purchased the station in November 1986.[14] Radio Fiesta officially signed on March 23, 1987.[15] The station became a sports play-by-play specialist; it was the long-time home of Spanish broadcasts of the Arizona Diamondbacks (now on KHOV), first carrying all 162 games in 2004,[16] and continues to carry Suns games. In 2021, the station will broadcast Phoenix Rising FC games.[17]
In 2015, the station partnered with Mexican radio company MVS Radio to launch its regional Mexican La Mejor format in Phoenix.
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